For 60 years, Opera UCLA, or the UCLA Opera Theater, as it was originally called, has been presenting students with multiple opportunities to explore the world of opera.
The program was created by Jan Popper, a pianist and conductor who trained in Leipzig, Germany. He also directed opera at Stanford University from 1939 to 1949 before transferring to UCLA.
“Between 1949 and 1975, Dr. Popper’s UCLA Opera Theater was responsible for West Coast premieres of operas by such important composers as Benjamin Britten, Leos Janacek, Darius Milhaud, Luigi Dallapiccola and Virgil Thomson, as well as productions of rare baroque, Mozart and bel canto operas,” said Juliana Gondek, a professor of voice and opera who has been in the department since 1997.
For the following two decades, proteges of Popper ran the UCLA Opera Theater, until William Vendice, who at the time was chorus master at the Los Angeles Opera, reorganized it in the mid-1990s as Opera UCLA.
“Around this time, Opera UCLA began receiving ongoing gifts of major funding from the (Maxwell H.) Gluck Foundation, whose generous support continues to enable Opera UCLA’s activities to this day. Following Mr. Vendice’s 2004 departure, a rotating roster of outstanding visiting conductors and directors presided over Opera UCLA until the 2007 appointment of our current director of opera, Professor Peter Kazaras, who concurrently serves as artistic director of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program,” Gondek said.
Now in its second year under Kazaras, Opera UCLA is as strong as ever. However important the faculties of this department are, the students are equally as important.
“The performers in our operas are all undergraduate and master’s students. In addition to their general education course load, they’re taking another 20-25 hours of instruction each week in music, foreign language classes and private voice lessons. Then, of course, they need to invest at least another 10 hours a week in their individual practice, making our voice performance majors among the hardest-working and most dedicated students on campus,” Gondek said.
Speaks Out
Even for some of UCLA’s most musically versed students, opera is foreign territory. The performers of Opera UCLA’s upcoming winter performance of “Giasone” realize how intimidating it may be to explore the world of opera. Here are suggestions for the best opera to see for the first time from the performers of “Giasone.”
Alene Aroustamian
Second-year, vocal performance
“”˜Le Nozze di Figaro’ by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is a comedy and has a great story that takes various twists and turns. The arias are absolutely beautiful and it has a great message. I can easily say that is one of my favorite operas. Mozart is a genius.”
Anush Avetisyan
Second-year, vocal performance
“”˜La Traviata’ by Giuseppe Verdi. I dare someone to watch the performance of “˜Sempre Libera’ and not be completely fulfilled, thoroughly impressed and emotionally connected to this fallen woman. This opera involves impossible love, prostitution, dance and sometimes even bull fights. I believe it has a charm that will reach anyone open to it.”
Brian Vu
Second-year, vocal performance and music education
“”˜La Traviata’ by Giuseppe Verdi. A beautiful, fickle and famed Parisian courtesan falls in love with her adoring fan, only to be turned down by his father, who thinks she is more trouble than she’s worth. … It’s the ultimate love story.”
Ian Pruneda
Second-year, vocal performance
“”˜Die Zauberflöte’ by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It has mystery, humor, fantasy and fabulous music ““ after all, it is Mozart. … And it has the “˜Die Holle Rache.’ I love opera, but I have to admit, “˜Die Zauberflöte’ is the only opera (in which) I did not fall asleep at some point.”